L. p. gas asphalt slick iron



March 2, 1965 M. KATCHUR, JR

L.P. GAS ASPHALT SLICK IRON Filed Feb. 24, 1959 INVENTOR. Mlchael Kotchur, Jr.

United States Patent 3,171,466 LP. GAS ASPHALT SLICK IRON Michael Katchur, Jr., 25 S. Morris St., St. Clair, Pa. Filed Feb. 24, 1959, Ser. No. 795,110 1 Claim. (Cl. 158--13.6)

This invention relates to an asphalt slick iron and, more particularly, to a portable, self contained paving iron for slicking or smoothing soft asphalt surfaces in buildings, driveways and the like and fueled by LP. gas.

An outstanding disadvantage of asphalt paving irons of conventional construction is that they carry liquid fuel tanks containing kerosene or gasoline which tend to leak, and require accessory parts, such as very small orifices which tend to clog burners, pumps and the like which are diflicult to maintain and which greatly increase the cost of the unit.

Another outstanding disadvantage of conventional asphalt paving irons is that they are exceedingly light and the heat is not evenly distributed in the paving iron-also the burner has a greater tendency to be blown out by the wind, and the pressure created by a hand pump has a greater tendency to fluctuate or fail. Furthermore, certain of such units require preheating which is very time consuming.

A still further disadvantage of conventional units is that they require numerous parts of relatively complicated construction which are costly to manufacture-furthermore they are not easily moved around as desired when not in use.

An object of my invention is to provide a novel asphalt slick iron which is devoid of the above named disadvantages and which is relatively simple and inexpensive in construction and has a smaller number of parts and is devoid of working parts or pumps or orifices that tend to clog, or other constructions which are diflicult to maintain.

A more specific object of my invention is to provide a novel asphalt slick iron which is self-contained and includes a tank of bottled gas under pressure and includes a novel burner head construction which is relatively heavy and of such construction as to evenly distribute heat and provide high efliciency in preheating and paving or slicking an asphalt surface.

Other objects and advantages of the invention will become more apparent from a study of the following description taken with the accompanying drawing wherein:

FIG. 1, is a side, elevational view of an asphalt slick iron embodying the principles of my invention;

FIG. 2 is a top or plan view of the burner head and associated parts, the remaining parts shown broken away;

FIG. 3 is an enlarged, fragmentary, cross-sectional view taken along line 33 of FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is a front view of the burner head shown in FIGS. 1, 2 and 3, and

FIG. 5 is an enlarged view showing the orifices for the gaseous fuel.

Referring more particularly to FIGURES 1, 2 and 3, of the drawing, numeral 1 denotes a burner head which is of shallow, box-like construction and built of relatively thick metal plates, such as /2 inch steel plates, which are welded together to form an integral flat box with a front opening. Integrally and angularly extending from the top of the burner head 1 is a mixing or combustion chamber 2 into which there projects a short pipe 8 which may be welded or otherwise secured to the top or end wall portion of chamber 2. Into one end of pipe 8 is screw threadedly connected a gas inlet pipe 6 for introducing fuel through pipe 8, thence through orifices formed in an orifice or burner plate 9 screw threaded into the other end of pipe 8. Three such angularly dis- 3,171,456 Patented Mar. 2, 1965 posed orifices 10 are shown in FIGS. 3 and 5 through which emanate three flames which are guided by ribs 13 formed integrally on the base portion or base plate of the burner head. Thus the central flame emanating from the central orifice will be guided between the two ribs 13, whereas the side orifices will project flames which will be guided outwardly of the respective ribs 13 which are about /2" thick and 1%," high, thereby effectively distributing the flames laterally over the entire base surface of the iron as well as throughout the entire length of the burner head, therefore providing uniform distribution of heat as well as quick heating of the lower surface of burner head 1 so that it may be used much like a sad iron for smoothing or paving a heated soft asphalt surface. The flames may even project outwardly of the front opening of the burner head for preheating the asphalt.

On the rear of the burner head 1 is secured a pair of brackets 16 on which is mounted a roller 15. The purpose of roller 15 is to serve as a pivot for tilting the entire unit or assembly for facilitating movement thereof from place to place when not performing slicking operations. A further use of roller 15, particularly if enlarged somewhat in diameter, would be to also aid in smoothing out the asphalt by rolling action, that is to say, there could be applied alternately rolling action by roller 15 and slicking action by the burner head.

Numeral 4 denotes a gas cylinder containing gas under pressure, such as L.P. (Liquid Petroleum) or propane, butane or other bottled gas. A suitable pressure is 6 lbs. per square inch. Handle 3 is in the form of a pipe whose end is screw threaded to a top projection of the burner head 1. Tank 4 is mounted on handle 3 by one or more brackets such as 4a which are clamped about the tank and pipe 3 as well. Or such brackets may be semicircular in shape to form wells into which only the lower half of cylinder 4 may be seated. In some instances, it may be desirable to provide a support or rest, such as 17, which is pivotally secured at 18 to the handle 3. This rest may be normally held, by means of clamp 19, closely against handle 3. When it is desirable to use it, the rest may be pulled away from clamp 19 and allowed to swing vertically as shown in dot and dash outline by numeral 20. However, the tank 4 and associated parts may be so evenly balanced against the weight of burner head 1 that the stand or support 17 may be eliminated.

A needle valve 7, to control the amount of heat, is provided in pipe 6 which may have perhaps eight different positions of metering adjustment which can be made by turning a valve pointer on a calibrated scale (not shown). Numeral 5 denotes a shut-off valve. If desired a pressure regulator valve of any well known type (not shown) may be inserted between the shut-off valve 5 and metering valve 7 for more accurately controlling the pressure. Shield 4b may be used, if desired, to protect valve 5 against accidental shearing.

In operation, the after shut-off valve 5 is opened and the metering valve 7 is adjusted to the proper position, a match can be applied to orifices 10 either through opening 12 on top of the burner head or through openings 11 behind the burner head. The latter method is preferable, therefore the opening 12 may be omitted. The flame will come on instantaneously and will uniformly heat burner head 1. If the tail ends of the flames play through the front opening of the burner head they may effectively preheat the asphalt before the burner head is slid thereof for paving.

Thus it will be seen that I have provided an efficient asphalt slick iron which employs bottled gas which provides a steady and reliable source of fuel and eliminates the need of pumps, burners with orifices tending to clog, air filters, strainers etc., and eliminates leakage of liquid fuel, also which eliminates the time, and expense of tend to be blown out by strong winds; also which'eliminates air pressure failures or fluctuations in fuel feed and,

provides uniform heating of the smoothing or paving iron control valve means insaid conduit means and located adjacent the upper end of said tank for controlling the amount of fuel fed to said orifice, and means defining a central and two side angularly outwardly extending orifices in said combustion chamber, said conduit means connecting the upper end of said tank to all three orifices, the

7 bottom of said burner head having a pair of ribsformed as well as substantiallyincreased etficiency in paving or slicking as well as an'amazing degree of portability.

While I have illustrated and described a single specific embodiment of my invention, it will be understood that this is by Way of illustration only, and 'that various changes and modifications may be made within the contemplation of my invention and within the scope of the following claim. a

I claim: 1

An asphalt slick iron for paving soft asphalt surfaces,

comprising a burner head in the form of a flat metal box,

said box having an opening at the front and communicating with ,a rearwardly extending combustion chamber,

a rearwardly and upwardly extending handle securedto said burner head, a tank of bottled gaseous fuel under pressure mounted on said handle, means defining a burner orifice in said combustion chamber, conduit means connecting the upper end of'said tank to said orifice to feed fuel under pressure from said tank to said orifice, and

on the top surface thereof for guiding the flame emanating from said side orifices outwardly of said ribs and for guiding the flame emanating from said center orifice between said ribs so as to uniformly distribute heat in said jfburner head.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,024,443 Gault Apr. 23,- 1912 1,058,9Q0 Ploch Apr. 15, 1913 1,136,294 Switzer Apr. 20, 1915 1 1,338,653 'Haidt et a1. Apr. 27, 1920 1,509,236 Greene Sept. 23, 1924 1,581,406 Stebbins -Apr. 20 1926 4 1,837,030 Elze Dec. 15, 1931 2,692,641 i Woods a Oct. 26, 1954 FOREIGN PATENTS 491,348. France Jan. 30,1919 

1. AN ASPHALT SLICK IRON FOR PAVING SOFT ASPHALT SURFACES, COMPRISING A BURNER HEAD IN THE FORM OF A FLAT METAL BOX, SAID BOX HAVING AN OPENING AT THE FRONT AND COMMUNICATING WITH A REARWARDLY EXTENDING COMBUSTION CHAMBER, A REARWARDLY AND UPWARDLY EXTENDING HANDLE SECURED TO SAID BURNER HEAD, A TANK OF BOTTLED GASEOUS FUEL UNDER PRESSURE MOUNTED ON SAID HANDLE, MEANS DEFINING A BURNER ORIFICE IN SAID COMBUSTION CHAMBER, CONDUIT MEANS CONNECTING THE UPPER END OF SAID TANK TO SAID ORIFICE TO FEED FUEL UNDER PRESSURE FROM SAID TANK TO SAID ORIFICE, AND CONTROL VALVE MEANS IN SAID CONDUIT MEANS AND LOCATED ADJACENT THE UPPER END OF SAID TANK FOR CONTROLLING THE AMOUNT OF FUEL FED TO SAID ORIFICE, AND MEANS DEFINING A CENTRAL AND TWO SIDE ANGULARLY OUTWARDLY EXTENDING ORIFICES IN SAID COMBUSTION CHAMBER, SAID CONDUIT MEANS CONNECTING THE UPPER END OF SAID TANK TO ALL THREE ORIFICES, THE BOTTOM OF SAID BURNER HEAD HAVING A PAIR OF RIBS FORMED ON THE TOP SURFACE THEREOF FOR GUIDING THE FLAME EMANATING FROM SAID SIDE ORIFICES OUTWARDLY OF SAID RIBS AND FOR GUIDING THE FLAME EMANATING FROM SAID CENTER ORIFICE BETWEEN SAID RIBS SO AS TO UNIFORMLY DISTRIBUTE HEAT IN SAID BURNER HEAD. 